The following description relates to an apparatus for the operator control of at least one function of a motor vehicle and/or of at least one appliance installed in a motor vehicle.
An operator control apparatus is described in DE 10 2004 031 659 A1. In this case, an armrest includes a supplementary operator control element which complements an operator control element which is present in the dashboard. The supplementary operator control element may have a transparent touch-sensitive layer, beneath which further parts of the supplementary operator control element are arranged. However, although the touch-sensitive layer of the supplementary operator control element is transparent, it is not possible to perceive the underlying surface beneath the supplementary operator control element.
Another example of an apparatus is described in DE 103 04 704 A1 or DE 103 04 720 A1, for example. Such “touchpads”, or touch-sensitive input panels, have recently also found their way into the interior of motor vehicles. In such an application, they can be used for operator control of a wide variety of functions of the motor vehicle or of an appliance installed in the motor vehicle, such as a navigation appliance, for example.
In order to allow appropriate operator control, these operator control panels require a relatively large surface area. However, a large surface area may be regarded as troublesome, particularly in high-end vehicles with correspondingly high-end interior fittings, because the touchpads in some cases require very large areas of the interior trim cut out. This interior trim removal greatly interferes with the aesthetics of the interior of the motor vehicle.